Quorum court panel OKs raises n Proposal will cost county an additional $16,425 if approved

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's justices of the peace agreed Dec. 9 to raise their per diem pay by $25 beginning in January.

The proposal will raise the pay for justices of the peace who attend Quorum Court and Committee of the Whole meetings from $175 to $200 and the pay for committee meetings from $100 to $125 for members who attend the meetings, said Brenda Guenther, comptroller.

The county had originally budgeted about $92,700 to pay justices of the peace in 2015, based on an estimated 33 committee meetings during the year and the monthly Committee of the Whole and Quorum Court meetings, Guenther said. The raises will cost an additional $16,425 if approved as part of the budget at the Dec. 18 meeting of the Quorum Court.

The county's Committee of the Whole recommended approval of the 2015 budget after endorsing the raises for justices of the peace. The Finance Committee split 3-3 on raises for the justices of the peace in its meeting earlier this month. Voting in favor of the raises at that meeting were justices of the peace Kurt Moore, Steve Curry and Michelle Chiocco. Voting against were justices of the peace Jay Harrison, Tom Allen and Barry Moehring.

The item was moved to the Committee of the Whole agenda as a discussion item where it passed by a vote of 9-3. Justices of the peace Moore, Curry, Chiocco, Mike McKenzie, Kevin Harrison, Pat Adams, Shirley Sandlin, Patrick Carr and Brent Meyers voted in favor of the raises. Allen, Moehring and Jay Harrison voted against the raises.

At the Committee of the Whole, Moehring repeated his objections to sitting justices of the peace voting to give themselves raises.

"I really struggle with voting for a raise for myself," he said. "Even if it's not very big and even if it has very little impact on the budget, I don't like the symbolism of it."

Curry said he's discussed the raises with his constituents and heard no objections.

"We haven't had a raise here since 2009, and the one before that was in 2004," Curry said.

Moehring offered a motion to defer the effective date of the raises to Jan. 1, 2017, but the motion died for lack of a second.

The justices of the peace also heard a report on the cost of removing mold and other microbial growth at the Sheriff's Office. Bids on the work were opened at 2 p.m. last week Tuesday, four hours before the committee meeting. County Judge Bob Clinard told the justices of the peace the county received five bids on the work. The low bid is between $120,000 and $130,000 and the high bid is about $225,000. Clinard said the county will do some work in the process -- including all of the painting, carpentry and carpeting. Clinard said the total cost of the project should be about $252,000.

Work to seal the exterior of the building has been completed, Clinard said. Moisture penetrating the walls led to mold and other microbial growth in the building, he said. The county has to make sure the exterior sealing is maintained, he said.

The county has money available in reserve and in the capital projects fund that could be used to cover the cost of the work. During the budget process, the justices of the peace put an extra $500,000 into the capital projects fund that will probably be used to cover the cost of the work.

Benton County is estimating a surplus of revenue over expenditures for 2015 of about $203,000, according to Brenda Guenther, comptroller. The county began its budget process with a surplus of about $2.4 million, but the justices of the peace approved nine new positions, raises for employees and elected officials and other items that reduced the projected surplus. Guenther also has estimated the county will have between $1.5 million and $1.8 million in returned appropriations from the 2014 budget.

Source: Staff report

General News on 12/17/2014